“We Were Spectacular”: The Art of the Band Breakup Statement

As you’ve probably read, My Chemical Romance announced earlier this week that they were going their separate ways, and this morning singer Gerard Way published a lengthy missive explaining the reasons behind the split, along with a whole bunch of other stuff about coffee, birds, talking amplifiers, and acting on stage. As far as these kinds of statements go, it’s really pretty great — honest, funny, and heartfelt — and it got us thinking about some of the more notable breakup announcements of our time. Some of these are funny, some of them gloriously bitchy, and all thoroughly memorable.

My Chemical Romance

Gerard Way’s epic 2,000-word missive is a classic of the band breakup genre, as gloriously overblown and ambitious as we might expect from the band responsible for The Black Parade. Curiously enough, we’ll really rather miss them.